the right choice
by brittanydelko4ever
Summary: my enrty for the colors of the rainbow challenge on CCOAC, also my view on how and why Ashley Seaver leaves the BAU! please RnR.


Chosen character is: Ashley Seaverassigned character is: Erin Strausssentence is: There was blood on the walls…the floor…theceiling…and her hands; she was in a world that consisted of nothing butshades of red, the color of death..

**A/N: my entry for the colors of the rainbow challenge, my sentence was suggested by BrightlyShining. It is also my explanation as to why Seaver leaves the team. I hope you like it!**

_She hears the girl scream as she struggles beneath her attacker. Ashley wants to help but she can't bring herself to move almost as if her feet were glued to the floor beneath her. Tears drip down her face as she watches the girl's body go still and the attacker laughs as he looks up and meets her eyes._

"_Daddy, why?" She sobs._

"_For you pumpkin, I'm doing it for you." He answers before the scene in front of her disappears and she's left in complete darkness._

Ashley shoots up in her bed wide eyed with sweat dripping down her forehead as she tries to calm her racing heart. This wasn't the first time she'd had this nightmare but lately it seemed to be happening more frequently.

* Three days ago*

"Everybody, conference room in five minutes." Unit chief Aaron Hotchner calls down from the steps over looking the BAU bullpen. Agents Seaver, Morgan, and Reid All look up in response and nod their heads in agreement as they close their open files and gather their things. He then makes his way to share the same information with and Rossi and Garcia .

"Is it me or does he look more serious than usual." Ashley Seaver turns to Derek Morgan as Hotch walks away. She then returns to gathering her stuff while she waits for a reply.

"No, it's not just you, he's definitely off." Morgan shrugs.

"He seems fine to me." Spencer Reid States as he bends to pick up the file he had clumsily dropped. The three agents walk into the conference room and are met by the impatient gaze of their colleagues.

"Okay let's get started," JJ begins her presentation. "Coffeyville Kansas, small college town. 5 girls went missing late last night Carrie Forester, Nikki Jones, Leah Peterson, Sarah Michaels, and Kim Jordan. Their parents received a phone call an hour ago from the kidnappers demanding 8 million dollars by 8 pm tomorrow or the girls die.

" Any connection between the girls?" Spencer inquires.

"All 19, members of the volleyball team and they are best friends." Hotch answers.

"Taking 5 girls at one time a busy campus, that's ambitious. Do we know how many unsub we are looking at.

"Four, the local police listened to the tapes, 4 different voices all male." JJ replies.

"Any witnesses to the actual abduction, these girls are athletes they could have put up a good fight." Derek suggests.

"They know the unsub or they were threatened." Ashley Points out.

"okay we have to work fast on this one, Garcia you're coming with us we need you to work on those tapes, when we get their Ashley, Derek, and Rossi I want you to split up and go to the victims dorms, we need to profile them see why these girls were targeted. Kim and Nikki were roommates and so were Carrie and Leah so that should make it easy.

Reid and Garcia are going with me straight to the precinct to meet with the locals and interview the parents. Wheels up in 20." Hotch directs.

Everyone gathers their case file and head to grab their go bags.

*37 hours later *

"Ashley slow down, you're going to kill us before we even get there." Moran yells over the blaring siren of the SUV.

"No, it 15 minutes till eight and we still have 20 more miles. If we don't hurry the girls are dead." Seaver yells back. Derek gives up knowing she's right and grabs hold of the door bracing himself just in case.

13 minutes later they wait outside the abandoned building guns drawn huddled closely with Hotch, Reid, Rossi, and one of the local cops.

"Okay split up teams of two, under no circumstances do you go in alone. We're already going to be out numbered if we find them. Reid and I will go left, Morgan and Seaver you go right, Miller and Rossi you go straight. After everyone approves they head in .

*36 hours later*

"And what happened after you went into the building agent Seaver." Section chief Erin Strauss asks. Ashley Closes her eyes and takes a deep breath before answering.

"Derek, I mean agent Morgan and I headed down the hall way, there was approximately 16 rooms. We cleared the first three. That's when I thought I heard a scream, it sounded like it was coming from the end of the hall." Ashley pauses and looks down at her lap. " I asked Agent Morgan if he heard any thing and he said no. we headed to clear the next room but I still wasn't convinced that it was nothing so when agent Morgan entered the room I ran to the end of the hall and I heard the noise again."

"So you deliberately ignored your boss's orders." Strauss stops taking he r notes and looks up at the young agent. She almost feels bad for her as she observes the lost look in the young blonds eyes, she remembers when she was that young agent trying to prove herself.

"Yes, yes ma'am I did." Ashley bites her lips nervously.

"Okay, and why didn't you wait for agent Morgan or at least tell him what you were doing."

"I knew he would argue against it and I didn't feel that there was time."

"And at this point you entered the room?" Chief Strauss returns to writing her notes.

"Yes, the door was cracked open, but I didn't enter right away a wanted a few seconds to make sure I had the right room. I heard a muffled whimpering and I slowly pushed open the door as I went in."

What did you see when you entered?"

_As she silently entered the room Ashley observed her surroundings the motion less bodies of Carrie, Sarah, Nikki and one of the unsubs lay off to the side in a pool of blood. LLeah was in the corner tapped up and she was sobbing as one of the unsubs pointed a gun at her. That was the source of the whimpering. Another one of the unsubs stood against the wall behind a video camera a satisfied grin on his face and Blood covered his clothes and was smeared on his face and hands just like the unsub holding the gun on Leah. What she saw next stopped her in her tracks Kim lay on the ground being held down the unsub as he chokes the like out of her, her body was covered in cuts and bruises just like the other girls. It was an image straight out of her night mare and once again she couldn't move. She had her gun pointed a t he unsub yet she couldn't bring her self to pull the trigger. She pulls her eyes away from them and catches the terrified eyes of Leah boring into her. She she's lost in a trance, she doesn't hear the guy behind the camera telling his friend to shoot her but she feel the sharp pain of a bullet tearing into her shoulder effectively pulling her out of her trance she fires of a round hitting the unsub choking Kim, and another hitting the gunman before she falls to the ground. She fires a third round hitting the camera man who was reaching for the gun his wounded friend had dropped. Dropping her gun she gets up running on pure adrenaline and makes her way to Kim's unmoving body. She rolls the dead unsub off and checks kim for a pulse, there isn't one she sobs as he looks around the room and back down a t kim There was blood on the walls…the floor…the ceiling…and her hands; she was in a world that consisted of nothing but shades of red, the color of death. She'd seen it many times before, yet somehow this was different, more personal. Why, because she could have stopped this, if only she hadn't let her personal issues get in the way of doing her job. If she hadn't this girl might still be alive. As she starts to head over to check on Leah she hears Morgan bust into the room followed shortly by the rest of the team. The whole nightmare feels like it lasts forever but really it's only been two minutes. Rossi runs to her asking her if she's okay while officer miller and Reid go to free Leah and Hotch calls for a bus. _

"_Come on Ashley, don't do this not now." Rossi yells as Ashley's adrenaline begins to wear off and the severity of her gunshot wound sinks in. she starts to fall but he catches her._

"And when you noticed you had the right room why didn't you get back up?" Strauss asks.

"I don't know, I should have I know that but it was like a dream it all happened so fast. And I didn't really have time he was killing the…. He was killing that girls and I just stood there." Ashley starts crying silently.

"Your actions, as reckless as they were are understandable. I see no reason to take any disciplinary action against you." Strauss informs her.

"I appreciate that ma'am but I would like to resign."

"There wasn't a lot you could have done; any one would have been shocked walking in on that." Erin Strauss tried to comfort the crying agent before her. "You are a good agent and the bureau would hate to loose you.

"I need to do this, I, I let it get personal, I looked at that girl on the ground and I saw.. I." Ashley exhales trying to pull her self together.

"You saw your father." Strauss looks at her sympathetically.

"um-hm" She nods.

"And that's why you want to resign?"

"Yes." Ashley nods. "I, I can't endanger the victims like that." she wipes the last tear a way. "And, I really think it would do me good to take some time to I don't know figure myself out."

"You understand this is a permanent decision?"

"Yes"

"Alright, I've got the paperwork here, but I really wish you would reconsider." Strauss digs the paper work out of her desk drawer and slides it across the desk.

"I've been thinking about this a lot the last twenty four hours and it's the right thing to do." Ashley insists and begins to fill out the paper work with her good hand. Ten minutes later the papers are all signed and Ashley hands over her credentials and gun.

"Good luck Ashley." Erin Strauss extends her hand. "I hope you figure everything out. The younger blond takes the offered hand and shakes it.

"Thank you. Me too" she replies and turns to walk out of the office.


End file.
